


Swing Time

by sergeant_angel



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: F/F, copious references to miss fisher's murder mysteries, give your space girlfriend nice things she deserves them, just an excuse to make you all visualize nebula playing dress up, kate's netflix queue, walk walk fashion baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 04:13:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14741777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sergeant_angel/pseuds/sergeant_angel
Summary: Given a chance to figure out what she actually likes, Nebula's entertainment and fashion preferences come as a bit of a surprise. Luckily, she's got a super rad archer girlfriend to help her out.





	Swing Time

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ring Them Bells](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029883) by [sergeant_angel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sergeant_angel/pseuds/sergeant_angel). 



> This is a continuation of a soulmate short, if any of you are here wondering how on earth Kate and Nebula started dating.

Kate is, like, hardcore, all right? Like,  _super fucking hardcore_. Ask anyone.

Except Natasha. Or Sharon. Or Bobbi. Or Barney. Or--

Basically, if you ask her team or Clint or Deadpool, they'll tell you Kate is  _super duper_ hardcore. 

And she is! Kate doesn't care about what anyone thinks of her. Other people can screw off. 

But. 

So the thing is, Nebula was raised by a psychotic space-grape hellbent on galactic domination, which  _sucks_  and Nebula rightfully has a lot of issues from that, but at the moment, it boils down to this: Nebula doesn't know when her birthday is, and when Kate had told her to "just pick a date! Any date! Totally up to you!" Nebula had asked Kate when  _her_ birthday was, and when Kate had tried to explain that that wasn't really what she meant or how birthdays worked, Nebula had gotten this Look that was part kicked puppy, part crushed Gusher, and part peeved. 

Nebula is really extraordinarily bad at Normal Human things which makes sense considering she's not human or normal, but she tries and it makes Kate's insides go all squishy. Seeing a terrifying assassin cyborg woman who is wearing a shirt that proclaims she hearts Hawkeye look put out that she's gotten some regular human convention  _wrong_ when she was told there was no wrong answer is literally something Kate is not equipped to handle. 

So, basically, this is how it comes to be that Kate is planning a birthday party for herself and her girlfriend. 

Kate isn't a party planner. Kate isn't much of a planner, period, and with parties what she usually winds up doing is saying something about it in Billy's general vicinity, and then he takes over, and then, eventually, Teddy takes over. 

Billy is also not good at planning, but unlike Kate, he doesn't know this about himself. 

BUT. But but but. This is Nebula, and Kate feels like she should be the one planning it.  A surprising number of people don't really get Nebula, and Kate's worried if she delegates the task they'll wind up with something like No Theme or women's MMA.  Sure, Nebula is terrifying and murderous and filled with rage but she also likes watching noir detective shows and musicals. 

Nebula really, really loves musicals. 

At first Kate had kind of thought Nebula was screwing with her, right? Or that she just wanted to figure out the reason behind her soulmate words. So they'd watched Pitch Perfect.  And then Pitch Perfect 2. And then Pitch Perfect 3. At which point Nebula got really upset that there wasn't another one, so Kate had pulled up all the High School Musicals and the  _Hairspray_ and  _Les_ _Miserables_ and  _Moulin Rouge_ and by the time Galavant had made it to her Netflix queue, Kate had realized that Nebula genuinely liked the idea of people singing their feelings. 

They're hanging out in Kate's apartment—Kate is using Nebula's leg as a pillow and they are surrounded by the scattered remains of their pizza as Nebula does some fine-tuning on the wiring in her arm when Kate decides that they're going to have a costume party, dressing up mandatory.  She's really stoked about this! She's got this  _in the bag._

"Was she real?"

"What?" Kate was so caught up in being an awesome girlfriend/soulmate that she stopped paying attention to what was going on around her. 

"Miss Fisher," Nebula points to the screen, where  _Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries_ are playing. "Was she real?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I like her hats."

Nebula goes back to tweaking things with her arm and Kate goes back to using her as a pillow, fighting to keep the manic grin off her face. She's the  _best_ girlfriend/soulmate, she's  _awesome_ at this.

******

"What's all this?" Nebula asks a week and a half later. 

Kate's living room is awash in boxes and the occasional plastic bag.

"Clothes!" Kate bounces up. "I ordered clothes for us!"

Nebula opens a box with more than enough caution, pulling out the contents. "This is a dress."

"Yes, it is!" Kate bounces on the balls of her feet.

"So it's for you." Nebula tries to hand it to her, but Kate shoves it back.

"I mean, if you don't  _like_ dresses, that's totally fine, but you always like the ones Phryne wears so--"

"It's a Miss Fisher dress?" Nebula snatches her hands back, holding the dress up to her. "No. It's silly. I'll look idiotic in a dress."

"Screw that noise! You wanna wear a dress, wear a dress. If you don't, that's cool, too, I ordered some vests and trousers and stuff. If you want..." Kate looks up from the pile of boxes she's digging in. Nebula is nowhere to be seen, but there are faint noises coming from the bedroom. Kate shrugs to herself and continues digging. Half of the aesthetic for the 1920s was shapeless glamour and the other half was menswear, and all of it was "fuck your male gaze" which Kate appreciates. She tries on the suit she's unearthed, tweedy sort of pants and a vest and tie. She looks great in ties. There's a hat around here somewhere, a trilby, maybe? She's not sure it goes but she plops it on her head, anyway.

Kate straightens her vest. She feels dapper as  _hell_ , and feels a strange sense of oneness with flappers.

"Well?" Nebula asks. "How do I look?"

Kate turns, and her jaw drops. 

It's a stereotypical sort of flapper day-dress, cream colored with a drop waist and pleated skirt, a small bow at the hips and one at the neckline. The dress sets off the color of her skin and the dress fits her really well. She looks like she's in a space opera version of  _Gatsby_

"You look  _amazing_ ," Kate manages, finally, "You need a hat, though."

She rummages, finds a cloche for Nebula, and then drags them both in front of a mirror. 

"Oh." Nebula's voice is soft as the touches the brim of her hat, then her cheek. 

Kate's heart aches.

"Oh!" Nebula loops her arm through Kate's. "We look like Phryne and Doctor Mac!"

******

The birthday party is a success, if Kate does say so herself. Nebula is wearing an elaborate headpiece and a dress spangles with stars, with flowy sleeves and a trailing back. She looks every bit as ethereal as her name would suggest.

Nebula kisses Kate's cheek, and Kate's sure she's left a bright-red lipstick print, but it's worth it, to see the gleam in her eyes and to have Nebula whisper in Kate's ear "This is the best birthday _ever_!"

Kate knows the bar isn't high, but still, she has to agree.

Best birthday ever.

**Author's Note:**

> NEBULA DRESSED AS A FLAPPER IS THE CUTEST THING EVER I DON'T MAKE THE RULES.


End file.
